Domestic horses have, for a great many years, been routinely shod with flat and relatively inflexible shoes of metal, plastic or the like. These horses have also long been plagued with various problems of lameness, many of which are related, directly or indirectly to the rigidity and non-resilience of the shoes without shock absorption characteristics. Feral horses, on the other hand, have a very low incidence of lameness, despite the fact that they often move 10 to 20 miles over very rough terrain. This is due, in part, to the fact that the hoofs of these horses when allowed to wear naturally, develope several shape and conformation characteristics which greatly enhance three-dimensional shock absorption, thus lessening stress and predisposition for various types of lameness involving the rest of the leg.